A Proposal for Higher Education Support in Engineering Field: A Case of Thailand

Abstract

The field of higher education, along with economics, is the most conducive to the application of Western industrialization and modernization models. The author made a field survey of higher education institutes of Thailand as one of the members of Japanese ODA Study team (Foreign Ministry Evaluation Office). The position of Thailand's institutions of higher education began changing in the 1960s. Before the 1960s, Thailand's universities were closed, elitist institutions that trained the government officials whose job was to preserve Thai culture and maintain classic Thai society, including politics (i.e., the bureaucratic training model). Since the 1960s, however, universities, under the guidance of foreign consultants, opened higher education to the public and shifted to an industrialization model emphasizing preparing students for North American-type industrialized society. Since the beginning of the 1990's, Thai universities have shifted their emphasis to enabling the students to respond flexibly to increasing industrialization in Thai society and to the modernization of social life, i.e., a socialization model. This socialization model is important when striving for balanced, sound social development once a certain degree of economic development has been achieved.

Shibayama and Nishino (1994) developed a model for the development of universities in Engineering field. The key factors for the classification of various development stages are (1) capacity of education, (2) quality of research and (3) contribution to industry. Engineering education at Thailand's institution of higher education would currently seem to be in Stage 2 of the development mode. In order to move from Stage 2 to Stage 3, it will be necessary to increase the number of researchers and engineers at certain academic levels in a certain field of engineering, and to create an academic community (i.e., academic societies and university faculty organizations) in which these researchers and engineers can discuss issues with their peers. Essential prerequisites for enhancing the self-development capabilities of Thailand's institutions of higher education include not only graduate schools' physical environment (i.e., improving facilities), but also advice relating to human resources, that is, assuring close interaction among Thai researchers and engineers.